This book examines the circumstances of the Kurds in 21st century Turkey, under the hegemony of the AKP government. After decades of denial, oppression and conflict, Kurds now assert a more confident presence in Turkey's politics - but does increasing visibility mean a rejection of Turkey? Recording Kurdish voices from Istanbul and Diyarbakir, Turkey's most important Kurdish-populated cities, this book generates new understandings of Kurdish identity and political aspirations. Highlighting elements of Kurdish identity including Newroz, the Kurdish language, connections to religion, landscape and cross-border ties, it offers a portrait of Kurdish political life in a Turkey increasingly dominated by its president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Within the context of Turkey's troubled trajectory towards democratisation, it documents Kurdish narratives of oppression and resistance, and enquires how Kurds reconcile their distinct ethnic identity and citizenship in modern Turkey.
Rezensionen / Stimmen
William Gourlay's The Kurds in Erdogan's Turkey: Balancing Identity, Resistance and Citizenship is a timely and welcome addition [...] A clear and well-written account of the complex Kurdish question and its manifestation at the micro-level during the region's current period of drastic change. -- Mehmet Gurses, Florida Atlantic University * Bustan: The Middle East Book Review * William Gourlay's The Kurds in Erdogan's Turkey: Balancing Identity, Resistance and Citizenship is a timely and welcome addition [...] a clear and well-written account of the complex Kurdish question and its manifestation at the micro-level during the region's current period of drastic change. -- Mehmet Gurses, Florida Atlantic University * Bustan: The Middle East Book Review, 2021, Vol. 12, No. 1 * For those seeking an accurate and readable analysis of current Kurdish identity and desiderata in Turkey, Gourlay's book will be a welcomed addition to a growing library. -- Michael M. Gunter, Tennessee Technological University * Middle East Journal * For those seeking an accurate and readable analysis of current Kurdish identity and desiderata in Turkey, Gourlay's book will be a welcomed addition to a growing library. -- Michael M. Gunter, Tennessee Technological University * Middle East Journal 2021 * Gourlay provides a lively and nuanced account of how ordinary Kurds, met in Diyarbakir and Istanbul in the crucial period of 2013-15, between the hopeful beginnings of a peace process and its collapse, spoke of what it meant to be Kurds and how they related to state and society of Turkey. Unlike many other recent studies, which focus on the Kurdish political and military movement, this book privileges everyday forms of self-assertion and resistance. -- Martin van Bruinessen, Utrecht University
Reihe
Sprache
Verlagsort
Zielgruppe
Produkt-Hinweis
Broschur/Paperback
Klebebindung
Illustrationen
10 black and white illustrations
Maße
Höhe: 234 mm
Breite: 156 mm
Dicke: 15 mm
Gewicht
ISBN-13
978-1-4744-5920-4 (9781474459204)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Klassifikation
William Gourlay teaches politics and Middle East history at Monash University and is Research Associate at the Middle East Studies Forum at Deakin University. He has published analysis, book reviews, policy briefs and peer-reviewed research in a range of online forums and international media, including in the key journals Middle East Critique, Ethnopolitics, The British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, Third World Quarterly and Ethnic & Racial Studies.
Autor*in
Teaching Associate at the School of Social SciencesMonash University
Introduction: Eruption in Diyarbakir
Identity, ethnicity, politics: from Kemalism to 'New Turkey'Conceiving Turkishness in the Republic of TurkeyKurdishness: long suppressed nationhood, or otherwiseCountenancing diversity: re-imagining national identityIdentity and difference in flux: the Gezi Park protestsInstituting 'Yeni Tuerkiye'
Talking to Kurds about 'Identity'Entering 'the field'An Australian in Kurdish neighbourhoodsConceiving 'identity'Being different, or how to spot a Kurd in Turkey
Demarcating Kurdish cultureLanguage: 'ana dil' or 'zimane me'Celebrating Newroz, or NevruzResisting managed diversity
The Kurds and Islam: defying hegemony and the 'caliphate'Kurds & IslamIslam in the Republic of TurkeyThe AKP and Islam in the public sphereShifting Kurdish relationships with IslamKurds as 'Others'Contesting Islam and asserting difference
Contesting homeland(s): city, soil and landscape'Toprak': naming, claiming and relating to the landscapeDiyarbakir: symbolic cityAlternative labelsSpatial contestations: identity and politics
Kurdayeti: Pan-Kurdish sentiment and solidarityKurdayeti: both 'we' and 'us'Crises, cross-border movement and consolidating solidarityKurdayeti confronts ISISVictory over ISIS and its aftermathCross-border currents
Oppression, solidarity, resistanceKurds in Turkey: a History of Oppression?Oppression Catalysing a Collective IdentityBerxwedan Jiyane: 'Resistance is Life'Maintaining resistance in 'New Turkey'?
Kurds as citizensCitizenship as obligation, imposition, resignationWeight of circumstances: belonging, friends, relativesParticipating in politics: citizenship made manifestStruggling for democracy?Turning up - again - at the ballot boxThe 'ideal': retaining currency?
Conclusion: reconciling ethnic identity, citizenship and the 'ideal' in Erdogan's Turkey?Whither the Kurds?
Bibiliography
